


glitter (silent confessions)

by ivyxwrites



Series: Bluepulse Week 2020 [3]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Bluepulse Week, Bluepulse Week 2020, Day 3 - Firsts, Hurt/Comfort, I'm really really unsure on how to tag this, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Mission, can it be considered fluff??, god i really hope so, gotta atone for my sins for day 1 and day 2 jsjs, i guess?? sort of??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:33:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24905386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivyxwrites/pseuds/ivyxwrites
Summary: The two men had ended up in Jaime’s apartment in Ivy Town without a second thought, their bodies operating on autopilot after they emerged from the showers in headquarters. Gar had hugged Bart a little too tightly before they left, and Cassie had hovered, curled up around Jaime’s shoulders until they had stepped on the platform for zeta transport.orno compromises, no second best, there's no stopping now this weight in my chest won't settle down
Relationships: Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes
Series: Bluepulse Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799095
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	glitter (silent confessions)

**Author's Note:**

> Today's entry begins with me telling you all that it's my beta's birthday in like 3 hours and this was my gift for her although Lyssa genuinely deserves the entire ass world. I know she always gets a thank you and a shout out, but for today and tomorrow, this is my time to gush about what an incredible woman she is. Lyssa's been my beta for a little more than a year, but we've known each other before that. I'll keep the details of our meeting for the two of us, but she's amazing, and I'm extremely lucky that she stumbled into my life and decided to stay for so long. She's wonderful, powerful and essentially a goddess. Happy birthday, amiga, I hope to be here to offer you more fic in later years. 
> 
> That aside, today's prompt was 'firsts'. I played around with the idea for really long, and this fic was going to originally go a different way but the day I started writing it Lyssa sent me the [ acoustic version fo Glitter & Crimson by All Time Low](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWJEc0iFPK4) and everything clicked into place right then and there. This is THE bluepulse song and you should all listen to it while you're reading this for added effect!
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy and also I hope this is a good enough forgiveness for the angst on day 1 and day 2 haha

Jaime’s room is quiet in the early hours before dawn. 

  
  


Reyes has his head on Bart’s lap, hands folded neatly over his stomach as he stares wide-eyed into the single darkest spot of the room’s ceiling. The pressure of Khaji Da’s armor pressing against his neck and shoulders keeps him grounded, but it’s the speedster’s presence that eases his soul into peaceful quiet. If he listens hard enough, Jaime could make out the soft sounds of his roommate sleeping in the room next to his, as the man was prone to talk in his sleep most nights. Tonight seems like David’s dreams aren’t plagued by darkness, like they usually are. 

  
  


Jaime can’t say the same thing about himself and Bart. Neither of them had slept a wink after coming back from Watchtower from their last mission because they both knew there wasn’t anything good waiting for them when they closed their eyes. Today had been particularly difficult, especially considering Bart had gotten too close to fatal injury for comfort. He’d been patched up easily enough, product of his overworking metabolism and Artemis’ quick hands in the infirmary. Jaime’s heart had been lodged in his throat the entire time Bart had been in med-bay. 

  
  


The two men had ended up in Jaime’s apartment in Ivy Town without a second thought, their bodies operating on autopilot after they emerged from the showers in headquarters. Gar had hugged Bart a little too tightly before they left, and Cassie had hovered, curled up around Jaime’s shoulders until they had stepped on the platform for zeta transport. 

  
  


It had been past two in the morning when they arrived at Jaime’s apartment. David had gone to sleep much earlier, but Reyes’ roommate had left out a dinner plate for him, with a little sticky note scrawled in red. Jaime hadn’t had any appetite left after that disaster of a mission with the Titans, but Bart had accepted it when he’d offered. They had sat at the kitchen counter, and the speedster had eaten at the slowest pace Jaime had ever seen him eat. 

  
  


Eventually, they ended up in Jaime’s room, sitting on the floor. The first twenty minutes were spent sitting next to each other, backs against the foot of Blue Beetle’s bed, and their sides pressed together from shoulder to thigh. Bart’s body was warm, warmer even in the summer heat, but Jaime couldn’t and wouldn’t be far from him. At some point, the speedster had herded Jaime’s head into his lap where he could card his fingers through the dark tresses of Reyes’ hair. 

  
  


“Do you think I’ve been unfair to you?” Jaime asks, suddenly, because the question has been bouncing around in his head for months now, ever since the two had kissed last Christmas. 

  
  


Bart’s hum is so quiet Jaime thinks he might’ve imagined it, “What do you mean?” 

  
  


“ _ Pues, no sé _ ,” Jaime chuckles, the noise rumbling low in his chest, “Like, have you ever felt like I’ve been unfair to you?” 

  
  


“You just rephrased the question, Blue,” Bart shakes his head, but there’s a smile in his face, “that literally doesn’t answer anything.” 

  
  


Jaime makes a low sound in his throat, half-sleepy and half-frustrated. His head isn’t computing quite as fast as it could be (not to mention, he had no idea how to explain what he was trying to convey) and the strain from the mission was still clouding most of his basic skills. 

  
  


_ [This line of questioning will take us nowhere, Jaime Reyes.] _ The scarab chastises him, chittering angrily in his back,  _ [Suggested phrasing: ‘Have my actions ever caused the Bartholomew Henry Allen II to feel wronged or hurt?’]  _

  
  


Jaime was kind of proud that the scarab’s suggestions have gotten less trigger-happy over the years and more diplomatic. While there were still incidents of a stray plasma cannon materializing after a particularly horrible lecture or a suggestion of evisceration when a professor knocked down his grade, Khaji Da had gotten infinitely better at discerning when real battle suggestions were needed and when they weren’t. 

  
  


“Have my actions ever caused you to feel hurt? Or like has it ever felt like I’m aiming to harm you in any way?” Jaime rephrases, looking up into emerald eyes. 

  
  


Bart stares at him. There isn’t an immediate answer on his lips, but there’s a flash of something on his face that makes Jaime’s stomach churn in anticipation. Blue Beetle knows he’s made many mistakes the past couple of months, especially after he’d kissed Bart at the Titans’ annual Christmas party. Their relationship, usually so easy and relaxed, had become something both men had resorted to dancing around. No conversations were had, no explanations were given, and Jaime had dived head-first into his college work the first chance he got to escape the ever growing wave of feelings threatening to spill over. 

  
  


“Sometimes,” Bart finally answered, after a prolonged silence, “I don’t think you do it on purpose, though--unless you are, in which case, kindly fuck off, Reyes.” 

  
  


The words make Jaime smile despite himself. He catches himself halfway through a chuckle and he coughs to try and drown out the sound. His best friend looks at him with a raised eyebrow, a habit he’d picked up from spending too much time in the Reyes household. 

  
  


“Sorry, shit,” Jaime frowns at himself, although Bart doesn’t seem angry, “I’ve been a sucky best friend these past few months, huh?” 

  
  


It’s Bart’s turn to laugh, but he doesn’t stop himself the way Jaime had. 

  
  


“I mean,” he says, “I don’t think either of us have been very good at keeping up with our friendship--other things have come up.” 

  
  


“Doesn’t take away from the fact that I’ve been ignoring you for the better part of the last four months,” Jaime shoots back, angry at himself, “If anything happened to you tonight, I would’ve been the idiot who was too obtuse to fix this  _ thing _ between us before one of us croaked during a mission.” 

  
  


Bart snorts, pressing uncharacteristically cool fingertips to the side of Jaime’s neck where the armor has retracted back for him, “I mean, if you’re so intent in being your usual guilty Catholic self about this, then fine--no one is to blame except for you in this whole thing because I don’t have any free-will and you make decisions for the both of us which has led us to be here, in this predicament.” 

  
  


“See, you  _ think  _ you’re funny, Bart,” Jaime says, deadpan, “but you’re actually not.” 

  
  


“I’m hilarious,” Bart shoots back, “you’re just jealous cause you’re the most unfunny person to have ever existed in the multiverse.” 

  
  


“Oh, ha-ha,” Jaime rolls his eyes, “so, that’s how it is? I’m just the worst of all the Jaime Reyes-es in the multiverse?” 

  
  


The speedster shrugs, “Nah, maybe you’re just second worst, you know?” 

  
  


“What makes me better than the other Jaime Reyes that’s at the bottom?” 

  
  


“He’s probably like evil or something,” Bart directs a toothy grin at his best friend, “also, you’re  _ my _ Jaime Reyes, so that’s enough to put you above the worst Jaime Reyes in the multiverse.” 

  
  


‘ _ My Jaime Reyes _ ’. The little emphasis Bart had added to that word is enough to make fireworks explode in Jaime’s chest, and he tries to ignore Khaji when they tell him his heart rate has suddenly picked up. Blue Beetle wonders if Kid Flash can feel it through the fingers pressed to his neck. 

  
  


“All jokes aside, Jaime,” Bart begins, looking serious, “I don’t think you ever meant to hurt me, despite having done it. I think I understand now why you did the things you did.” 

  
  


“I’m genuinely sorry about those things,” Jaime sighs, shutting his eyes tightly, “About the kiss, and about not explaining, and about ignoring you because I didn’t know how to deal with how I felt in a way that's healthy.” 

  
  


Bart doesn’t answer, choosing to card his fingers through Jaime’s hair again. It’s gotten a bit longer this year, enough that Cassie has already attempted to braid it a few times and Milagro has already succeeded twice. The one time he threatened to cut it, however, Bart had been very adamant about leaving it alone, and so he had kept it longer. 

  
  


“I think we both know it was more complicated than that,” Bart musses, voice soft, “I didn’t really get it at first, being from an apocalyptic future past and all, but I think I get it now.” 

  
  


“Oh?” Jaime says, eloquently, “Please, do explain my own rational thought to me.” 

  
  


Bart laughs, pulling Jaime’s hair in retaliation, “Don’t be a little shit, I’m trying to be understanding.” 

  
  


Blue Beetle makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat, swatting at Bart’s hand from his hair, eliciting a too-loud laugh from the speedster. In the room next to them, David whines about them being too loud. Jaime guesses by the soft thud to the door that his roommate had thrown a pillow at it, and he can’t help but laugh alongside Bart. 

  
  


_ [The Roommate is preventing us from having a meaningful conversation with the Bartholomew Henry Allen II. Suggested tactic: find new living arrangements.] _

  
  


“Go back to bed, jerk,” Jaime calls out to the other man, filing a note away to explain to Khaji (again) that his roommate isn’t that bad, “we’re having a private conversation here.” 

  
  


David mumbles something unintelligible, muffled by two doors worth of space, before the apartment descends into quiet again. 

  
  


“You could tell him his boyfriend is louder,” Bart whispers cheekily, biting his bottom lip to avoid another bout of laughter, “cause god knows he is.” 

  
  


_ [Kid Flash’s statement is correct. I can collect enough evidence from our memory banks to back it up.] _

  
  


Jaime shakes his head, snorting softly, “I’m hanging that over his head until the time is right.”

  
  


The two of them quiet down then, staring at each other. The angle is a little bit uncomfortable, Jaime thinks, especially for Bart, but there’s this sudden fire blooming in Jaime’s chest, urging him to lean up to kiss Allen’s soft lips. He quells the instinct down as best as he can, telling himself this is not the time. After tonight’s ordeal in Santa Prisca, Jaime had decided things had to come to a conclusion with Bart, whatever that meant for the two of them. Their teamwork was suffering the brunt of their fight and Jaime really wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if something did happen to Bart tonight. 

  
  


“Bart,” he begins, swallowing down the knot in his throat, “me being--well,  _ un pendejo _ aside, I really thought I was doing us both a favor by distancing myself from you.” 

  
  


“I know,” Bart answers, but a grimace takes over his features, “Like I said, I didn’t really understand the whole age gap thing at first. It made me frustrated that everyone was trying to tell me what I could or couldn’t do simply because I wasn’t old enough to meet their maturity standards. It was even worse three years ago, when I first expressed my feelings for you to Barry, which went as well as you might expect  _ that _ conversation to have gone.” 

  
  


Jaime can’t stop the laugh that escapes him. He clasps a hand over his mouth to try and muffle the sound, to no avail. Bart rolls his eyes and slaps his forehead once to try and get him to stop, which only makes him laugh even harder. 

  
  


“Oh my god, Jaime,” Bart whines, “shut up, why are you such a dork?” 

  
  


Reyes tries to take a few deep breaths, willing himself to stop laughing like an idiot. His mother would laugh at him and announce to the world that his laughter was only one of the many tell-tale signs of his nerves, but Bart seems to not have caught on to that just yet. Khaji tells him his tactic isn’t working and that, if he allows them full control of their body, he could fix this disaster of a conversation in a second. 

  
  


Jaime seriously doubts it. 

  
  


Eventually, he does manage to stop laughing, burying his nose into Bart’s thigh with a soft, squeaky sigh. The speedster doesn’t say anything else, and when Reyes turns to look at his best friend again, he finds him smiling. 

  
  


“What?” Jaime asks, raising an eyebrow. 

  
  


“Oh, nothing,” Bart says, softly, quietly, “I just really like it when you laugh.” 

  
  


_ [Our body temperature is rising above normal levels, Jaime Reyes. Suggested tactic: take a cold shower.] _

  
  


Jaime chuckles nervously, trying to look away from Bart, but failing to do so because his best friend has resorted to cradling his chin with one of his hands. The point of contact where Bart’s fingertips hold Jaime’s jawline, soft but firm, is alight with electricity, and Reyes sucks in a sharp breath through his nose. 

  
  


“I love you,” Bart tells him then, voice shaky and eyes vulnerable, “I’ll understand if it’s not what you want right now, because you think I’m still, I don’t know, too young or something, but--” his voice trails off, but Jaime is too dazed to say anything before Allen picks up on his idea again, “Shit, Jaime, I couldn’t live with myself if I never said it to you. I might not know so much about love or whatever, but I’ve never been more certain about what I feel about anything in my life.” 

  
  


Jaime lays there, dumbfounded, for the better part of thirty-two whole seconds (the scarab counted them). They drag out in Jaime’s head for what seems like an eternity, and Reyes wonders if this is what Bart feels like  _ all the time _ , the world too slow around him for the flurry of thoughts going on in his head. He knew Bart had feelings for him (it pays off to know your best friend), but hearing the words right out of his mouth for the first time was still a bit of a shock. 

  
  


Blue Beetle didn’t particularly know how to answer to them. 

  
  


“But you’re my best friend, Jaime,” Bart continues, when said best friend continues to gape at him like a goddamn fish, “And my lightning rod, no matter what happens between us. These past four months have been absolutely brutal for my self-esteem,” the younger man chuckles, “I know going back to being just friends isn’t going to be easy, but if that’s what you want, I promise I can--” 

  
  


“No,” Jaime answers, finally out of his stupor, as he sits up from his place laying down on Bart’s lap, “ _ a la madre _ , no. I don’t want that. I’m tired of dancing around each other like we’re not--like  _ I’m  _ not stupidly in love with you, Bart.” 

  
  


The smile that takes over the speedster’s features is soft and full of something that lights the fire in Jaime’s chest brighter. For all the times they’ve gotten it wrong in the past few years, with the near-misses and the what-ifs plaguing their relationship in ways they hadn’t noticed until it was too little too late, Jaime felt like there had to be some victories he could take home, too. This moment, in particular, Blue Beetle would like to take it all the way to a win. 

  
  


“Look,” Jaime begins again, crossing his legs in front of him, “I’m not gonna tell you that I’m not scared out of my mind, or that I’m not feeling that good ol’ Catholic guilt that you were talking about just now,” Bart giggles (adorably so) and Reyes continues, “but today I nearly missed out on telling you how I felt about you because I was trying to do right by you. Or what I thought was doing right by you--although I think Barry would agree that, two years ago, it wouldn’t have been appropriate, by any stretch of the imagination, for me to kiss you.” 

  
  


“You’re rambling,” Bart points out, leaning his head back on the foot of Jaime’s bed, “which I blame entirely on your over-exposure to David, to be honest.” 

  
  


“Is that really relevant right now?” Jaime sighs, shoulders slumping forward, “I’m trying to be romantic, or something.” 

  
  


The speedster extends a hand towards Jaime, nodding his head, “Please, proceed with your romantic gesture.” 

  
  


“What I’m trying to say is,” Jaime says, choosing his words carefully, “I can’t let you settle for anything less than my all, and I don’t think I can settle with giving you  _ anything _ else than my all. It would kill me very slowly if I lost you like that.” 

  
  


Bart smiles at him, “Scoot closer,  _ escarabajo. _ ”

  
  


Jaime does as requested, shuffling over to Bart until his knees are touching Bart’s thigh, torso leaned forward so he can be as close to the other man as possible. There’s still a significant gap between the two of them, but Allen seems content to just drink Jaime in. His green eyes scan Reyes’ face for a second, and a hand comes to cradle the side of his face, his index finger pressed firmly to the curve of Jaime’s jawline. Blue Beetle feels the tension between them, the magnetic energy pulling him closer and closer to Bart. 

  
  


Jaime mumbles something that gets lost in his own ears, leaning all the way to finally press his lips against the speedster’s. The contact is fleeting at first, just a soft brush that makes Jaime’s heart skip in his chest, but he decides he wants much more than that. As if hearing his thoughts, Bart’s hand on his cheek guides him into a longer kiss, the movement charged with much more intent and conviction than Jaime himself was capable of. 

  
  


The kiss is soft and frighteningly intimate, in a way that sends Jaime’s mind reeling. It’s not like the kiss they shared on Christmas, that had been kind of impulsive and desperate in the way they held onto each other. It hadn’t been terrible back then, but there was something so unique about an intentional and premeditated kiss that made Reyes melt against the speedster. 

  
  


Before they pull apart, Jaime presses another quick peck to the corner of Bart’s lips, smiling softly as their foreheads bump together. Blue Beetle’s eyes are still closed, taking in the moment. Khaji Da is thankfully quiet, their presence simply accounted for by the soft hum vibrating against Jaime’s spine. 

  
  


“I’m sorry I was so scared before,” Jaime mumbles, brown eyes half-lidded, “I never meant to make it more difficult for you.” 

  
  


Bart chuckles, brushing his nose against Jaime’s, “I was scared, too. Mostly because I thought I had lost you.” 

  
  


“You could never lose me,  _ correcaminos _ ,” Jaime answers, his left hand coming to curl against the one Bart still has pressed against his face, “You could run to the end of the universe and I’d follow you.” 

  
  


When they kiss again, the first wisps of sunshine filter through the open window. The soft light casts golden shapes over Bart’s face, green eyes brighter than any other time Jaime had stared into them. When he focuses enough, Reyes can see the small flecks of yellow closer to Kid Flash’s irises, and he commits them to memory, making sure to ask Khaji to keep that image stored in their memory bank just in case. 

  
  


The scarab makes a soft chittering sound. Bart mentions it sounds like they’re laughing, and Jaime says it might be time to head to bed. 

  
  


David’s alarm goes off ten minutes into their attempt at sleep, but Jaime and Bart stay in bed, knees pressed together and hands held in the middle.

**Author's Note:**

> Some fun tidbits about today! 
> 
> -In my head, Jaime is around 22 in this, which would make Bart 19. While this is obviously not set in the same as universe from day 1, it could be set in the same universe as day 2. There are so many ways these two boys could end up confessing, and this is just one of many! 
> 
> -Barry flipped when Bart (aged 16) told him he maybeprobablypossibly might have feelings for his 19 year old best friend. He went into this whole spiel about how Bart was still too young and how Jaime was much to old for him, and then tried to course correct by saying Jaime was a good kid and he liked Reyes just enough, but that it was just _not_ the time. This wasn't even a serious conversation because Barry continuously nervous-laughed because we all know he's still awkward sometimes. He didn't know how to deal with his grandson having a crush and coming to him for help. Poor Barry, Iris must've laughed at him _hard_ after it happened. 
> 
> -My HC for Jaime is that he's not very outwardly religious, but he _was_ raised in the border by a latino family, so he of course knows first hand what Catholic guilt feels like. After they kissed for the first time, he nearly had a panic attack if it hadn't been for the sentient alien AI attached to his spine. 
> 
> -In my head, this is also around the time Jaime starts semi-retiring from hero work. He works with the Titans through most of his college years and then some, but eventually turns in his card and tells Tim to call him ONLY when completely and absolutely necessary. After that, he throws himself into helping his community. 
> 
> -Jaime's roommate Dave is about to become a constant, y'all are gonna have to excuse me for that. Don't ask about him or you might find yourselves in ANOTHER crossover AU and we all know we don't want that.


End file.
